University of Connecticut women cruise past Marquette, 85-45

Associated PressConnecticut's Bria Hartley takes off after stealing the ball from Marquette's Arlesia Morse in the first half of the Huskies' win Saturday in Milwaukee.

MILWAUKEE – Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Tiffany Hayes provided Connecticut with a one-two scoring punch that was too much for Marquette.

Mosqueda-Lewis scored a career-high 27 points and Hayes added 20, including 18 in the second half, to lead fourth-ranked Connecticut to an easy 85-45 win over Marquette on Saturday.

“It’s hard to beat us when those guys are playing like that,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said.

The Huskies (26-3, 13-2 Big East) have won all seven meetings against Marquette and will face No. 3 Notre Dame on Monday night to try to earn a share of the conference regular season title.

“You have to say to yourself, ‘Will the same stuff that worked tonight work Monday night as well?’” Auriemma said.

Even with a victory Monday, UConn will be the No. 2 seed in the Big East tournament because of tiebreakers.

Hayes scored 13 points in the first seven minutes of the second half to help UConn blow the game open.

“I was moved to the post spot and they did a good job finding me. I was either driving and kicking or driving and finishing at the rim,” she said.

Mosqueda-Lewis scored 15 points in the first half to lead the Huskies to a 34-21 advantage at the break. The freshman’s previous career high was 25.

“It just feels good to be able to help the team. The main goal for all of us is to win a national championship,” said Mosqueda-Lewis. “But yeah, it does give me some personal satisfaction.”

Connecticut shot 49 percent from the field while holding Marquette to just 21 percent shooting.

“They hit the shots, we didn’t,” Marquette coach Terri Mitchell. “UConn does their work before they catch. They are great with their speed setting you up. We were catching and then doing the work. That’s why you get our shooting percentage.”

Katherine Plouffe scored 16 points to lead the Golden Eagles (13-15, 4-11), who have lost five straight and nine of their last 10 games.

Mosqueda-Lewis scored eight points to spark a nine-point run that put the Huskies ahead 15-6 with 12:52 left to play in the first half.

Marquette pulled within seven at 21-14 on a pair of free throws by Arlesia Morse with 4:57 left. Mosqueda-Lewis immediately sank a 3-pointer and Marquette never got that close again.

Hayes’s early second half scoring burst gave the Huskies an insurmountable 22 points lead with 13:19 remaining.

“We played really well today. We shot the ball pretty well in stretches. We didn’t turn the ball over,” Auriemma said.